1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data processing and, more specifically, to object-oriented programming systems and processes.
2. Description of the Related Art
An information retrieval (IR) system typically receives a text-based query that defines subject matter of interest to a user. The system then compares the query to text stored in system memory, such as disk storage, and locates the documents that most closely match the subject matter of interest, which are then presented to the user. Such systems, however, are frequently inflexible. That is, they cannot be easily modified to provide components that accommodate changing user needs.
In addition, the document types that are supported by IR systems typically are fixed and inflexible. An IR system might efficiently support different types of text documents created, for example, using different word processing formats, but could not be easily adapted to accommodate newly developed formats.
Adapting an IR system to new text representation formats would be difficult because new lines of code for parsing and editing of the new text format, to name just two changes, would have to be carefully developed and woven into the programming steps of the IR system. Virtually every text operation of the IR system would have to be supplemented with a corresponding new operation to accommodate the new format. In addition, the presence of the new format would have to be detected. Incorporating the new code with the old code so the changes are seamless and the IR system works properly, without “hidden” problems or bugs, can be extremely difficult, time consuming, and expensive. Moreover, IR system maintenance as the new code is added can become quite problematic.
Information retrieval systems can support query processing on documents of different information types, but again can be quite difficult to modify so as to support new types of documents. For example, an IR system might support information retrieval operations on text documents and image documents that contain digital representations of images that can be processed by applications programs that create corresponding text descriptions of the images. The user of such an IR system could thereby perform information retrieval on text documents and images, but again would face extreme difficulty in modifying the IR system to perform IR operations on a HyperText Mark-Up Language (HTML) type of document.
As new forms of data are used to store and represent information, such as HTML, it will become more challenging for information retrieval systems to provide efficient, simple operation and also have the flexibility to be easily adapted to new forms of information containing documents.
From the discussion above, it should be apparent that there is a need for an information retrieval system development mechanism tool that provides a basis for more rapid, less expensive, and simpler development of information retrieval systems with greater user flexibility. The present invention satisfies this need.